


Sweet Tooth

by swiftonthedownside



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Disowned Sirius, Food Reviewer AU, M/M, Modern AU, Muggle AU, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:00:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22136689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swiftonthedownside/pseuds/swiftonthedownside
Summary: Sirius Black, disgraced son of tech giant Orion Black, is forced to return to London and is staying with and working for his friends James and Lily Potter in the restaurant they own when an encounter with a dessert connoisseur sends him reeling.Modern-day Muggle AU.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, wolfstar - Relationship
Comments: 12
Kudos: 60





	1. Meet-Cute

**Author's Note:**

> Whoahoho everybody! Guess who’s back on his BullShit™!
> 
> I feel like I should apologize for not updating something but honestly? I don’t even know what I’m supposed to be writing rn. Sorry it’s not Twilight or smth I guess. Here’s an idea that brought me fuckin joy babey!! Because that is what life is about!!

Sirius was bored. He was always bored these days, but this was basically just torture. Standing around his best mate’s big fancy London restaurant doing absolutely fuck all. He let out another groan and leaned against the host’s station, jostling the hostess.

“Come on, Black,” she complained, shoving him upright. “This is a nice place, you know? At least stand up straight if all you’re going to do is loiter.”

“I’m not loitering, _Vane_ ,” he snapped at her. He adjusted the stupid vest and tie of his uniform. “It’s not my fault James won’t let you seat anyone in my section.”

“It’s not mine, either.” She flipped her long dark curls over her shoulder, gazing down at the reservation book. “If you had gained any life skills since high school, maybe you wouldn’t be such a shitty waiter.”

“I was too busy studying engineering,” he sniffed at her. “You know, at MIT?”

“Right, and what good has that done you?”

He didn’t reply, glaring out over the dimly lit restaurant. It had done him quite a bit of good, actually, in terms of job prospects. Until his father had him blacklisted from every lab and engineering center on the east coast. He was lucky he even made it out of the States before they cut off his funds. After a minute of looking over the tables full of primly-sat couples in photocopied tuxedos and sparkly evening gowns, he turned his gaze back to the hostess, pulling his best puppy-dog eyes.

“Evangeline,” he implored. She looked up, her face reluctant, but he grabbed a hold of the eye contact and held her there. “I’m so so bored and so so broke. _Please_ seat the next one in my section? Surely I can handle one itty bitty table?”

Her expression crumpled and she whined a little. “Oh, fine. Fuck you, Sirius Black, I can’t fight those eyes.”

Sirius perked up and straightened his vest again. He looked to the heavy wooden doors expectantly, hoping someone would enter soon.

It took several minutes of waiting, but finally the fancy filigree handle turned and the door opened. Sirius watched as a few flecks of snow whirled in behind a man with tawny brown hair wearing an overly large brown coat. Sirius raised an eyebrow, and Evangeline did the same. He didn’t look like the usual fancy-pants guests Sirius had come to expect in this place over the past two weeks.

“Welcome to Godric’s Hall,” Evangeline greeted him all the same. “Reservation?” The look on her face seemed to imply that she expected he didn’t have one.

However, he flashed her a warm smile, his hazel eyes crinkling just a teeny bit. “Remus Lupin,” came his low reply.

Her eyebrows raised again when she marked off next to the name in the reservation book. “Excellent.” She gave him a more welcoming smile. “Let me show you to your table.” As she turned, she gave Sirius a look and tapped the reservation book pointedly with her pencil. She led the man away, through the dimly-lit maze of tables, and Sirius peered at the reservation book. Next to the name Remus Lupin he noticed the distinctive handwriting of James’s wife, Lily.

_Tell me the MOMENT he arrives!!!_

Sirius looked over his shoulder to where Evangeline was still leading their guest to his table, then turned and headed to the kitchen.

He hated the kitchen. It was always hot and humid and there were so many smells—too many smells. They made his head hurt. James had been teasing him about his sensitive nose ever since he brought it up last week. The noise was another thing entirely its own, a cacophany of beeping machinery and sizzling meats and boiling sauces and people shouting. It was almost impossible for him to spot James, busy in his position as head chef and not sparing him so much as a glance. He instead looked for Lily, who was usually less busy during dinner service and also much easier to spot.

Indeed, it took him only a few seconds to locate her shock of dark red hair, and he shimmied through the crowded kitchen towards her. “Lily! Hey, Evans!”

She turned at the sound of her maiden name - a habit Sirius doubted he could ever kick - and her face fell into a near scowl when she spotted him. “What are you doing in here, Black?” she asked, meeting him halfway.

“That bloke is here,” Sirius yelled over the sound of an oven screaming at the top of its lungs. “Remus or something?”

The color drained from Lily’s face and her hands flew to her cheeks. “Oh! He’s here!” She pushed past him and rushed to the door. Sirius followed her.

“Who is he?” he asked as they emerged into the dining room. Lily stayed near the kitchen, craning her head around to see if she could spot him.

“Well, you know how James and I have been trying to get my pastries more recognition? Like, people are always reviewing the entrees and such but rarely do reviewers order dessert around here?”

Sirius nodded. He had to admit, Lily made some of the best cakes and pies and creme brulees and every sort of sweet thing he’d ever eaten. He wasn’t much of one for sweets, but he always made an exception for Lily’s baking.

“Well,” she continued, “I reached out to some dessert-specific reviewers in the area and asked if they would come out and give an honest review of my sweets case, and he responded.”

Sirius felt his heart drop as the realization hit him. “He’s a reviewer?”

“Yes!” Lily lit up when she spotted him, the back of his light brown head visible as he spoke with Evangeline, who was smiling at him brightly now. “Whose section is he in?”

“Mine,” Sirius choked out. Lily turned to him, a look of horror on her face.

“ _Yours_? Sirius Orion Bl—“

“I didn’t mean to mess with your reviewer,” Sirius defended himself quickly. “I just wanted one table, all night I’ve had nothing and don’t start, Evans, because I know you told Evangeline—“

“I only told her to keep you out of trouble and that if refusing to give you tables would do it, then so be it!”

“What’s even the point of me working here if—“

“Oh, come on, Sirius, would you rath—“

“Lily?”

They both stopped and looked at Evangeline, who seemed thoroughly amused. “I think you’d better let Sirius go take his order, don’t you?”

Lily let out a huffy breath. Then she closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, and exhaled slowly. When she opened her eyes again, she was much calmer.

“It’s just one guy,” she said aloud to no one in particular. “And he should only be ordering desserts and drinks. Sirius can handle that.”

Sirius nodded quickly. “I can. I can handle that.”

She gave him a stern look. “And _please_ , Sirius. Customer service. Try a little?”

Sirius nodded again. “I will. I promise, if I fuck up his service, I’ll commit seppuku right here.”

Her lips almost twitched into a smile. “Go. Let me know if you need anything.”

Sirius headed across the restaurant, putting on his best sauve strut and charming smile. He pulled out his notepad and approached the reviewer’s table.

“Good evening,” he greeted him as he came up. “My name is Sirius, and I’ll be your waiter this evening. Can I—“

“Sirius?” the man interrupted. Sirius blinked to see him smiling at him in amusement. “And I thought I’d never meet anyone with a name weirder than mine.” He chuckled. Sirius felt off-balance all of the sudden.

“And what kind of name would that be?” he found himself asking, as if he hadn’t heard it earlier.

The reviewer laughed again. “Remus. Remus Lupin.” He shook his head, a fond smile on his lips, and Sirius felt one on his own face in turn.

“I can’t say it’s much worse than Sirius Black,” he said. “But we can go ahead and say we have equally weird names.”

“Deal.” Remus smiled at him broadly, and for a second Sirius forgot what he was doing. He scrambled to get back inside his own head.

“Can I start you off with something to drink, sir?”

Remus chuckled again and muttered “sir” to himself under his breath. Sirius felt a blush starting to rise to his cheeks, but Remus answered his question. “I’d definitely like a water.” He picked up his menu, scanning the drink section.

“Can I perhaps suggest a coffee, as well?” Sirius put in, thinking of having to eat so many sweet things all at once. Remus looked up from his menu and gave him an almost embarrassed smile.

“Actually, do you serve hot chocolate?”

Sirius raised his eyebrows, but nodded. “Yes, of course. A water and a hot chocolate. Anything else I can get you right now?”

“No thank you.” Remus flipped his menu over to the dessert list. “I need a moment to prowl.”

Sirius felt himself smiling at the choice of phrasing. “Of course. I’ll be back with your drinks in a jiffy.”

He turned and marched across the dining room, towards where Lily was hiding behind the kitchen window. She straightened up when she saw him approaching.

“Well?” she asked before he had even really reached the window. Sirius looked at her, almost unseeingly.

“I said ‘in a jiffy’ to him,” he told her, his voice horrified. She rolled her eyes and groaned.

“Did he order anything yet?”

“Water and a hot chocolate.” Sirius leaned against the window as Lily babbled and went about getting the hot chocolate, selecting the best mug even though they all looked the same and measuring the cocoa sprinkles to the exact ounce. Sirius knew he was blushing. He was acting like an idiot. This was just some food blogger. Even if Lily was stressed, it wasn’t such a big deal.

He moved to grab a glass for water and arranged it on a tray once Lily put up the hot chocolate. He made his way slowly back across the room and unloaded the drinks carefully at Remus Lupin’s table.

“Have you decided on anything yet?” he asked, determined to get his cool back.

“I think so.” Remus shifted and pulled the hot chocolate closer to himself. He still wore his large coat, and looked like he was still freezing even inside the warm restaurant. “It’s a long list,” he warned, giving Sirius an apologetic look.

Sirius simply gave him his smoothest smile and held up his notepad. Remus grinned and looked back at the menu.

“I will try the strawberry angelfood cake, the apple pie, the blackberry chocolate cake, the persimmon strudel, the apricot mousse parfait, the cookie dough pie, the lavender lemon cheescake, and of course, no meal is complete without a healthy serving of triple chocolate fudge cake.” He paused for a moment. “And a brownie sundae, but bring that last.”

Sirius raised an eyebrow as he made his notes. “That is quite the list,” he commented, glancing at the man. He smirked back, leaning on the edge of the table and quirking an eyebrow.

“I have quite the sweet tooth.”

Sirius looked back at his notepad in an attempt to hide his blush. Holy fuck. Why did that line sound so hot coming from this scruffy food blogger? He cleared his throat. “Shall I bring these out one by one?” he asked, trying to stay on-task.

“Yes, I would ask that you bring about...one every five minutes.”

Sirius nodded and made a note of it on his notepad. “If there’s anything else you need, again, my name is Sirius.”

“I haven’t forgotten.”

Sirius turned and nearly sprinted back to the kitchen window, sure his face was bright red. Lily was looking at him oddly, but snatched Sirius’s notepad from his hands and started looking it over.

“Jesus, is he going to eat all of this?”

“I think he’s hitting on me,” Sirius said, having not heard her at all over the recording of the words “I haven’t forgotten” that was playing over and over in his head.

Lily groaned loudly at him. “Black, please, now is really not the time for your egotisical horniness.”

Sirius opened his mouth to argue that he was neither egotistical nor horny, but Lily had moved on. “I’ll get the first one plated, and then immediately start on the next. That way we’re always prepared.” She ripped the order out of Sirius’s pad and continued looking it over. “You just wait here, Sirius, don’t get in any trouble.”

Sirius grumbled under his breath at her and leaned against the window, trying to calm down. He distracted himself by watching James move about the kitchen yelling orders to his cooks. It was a different James, here in the kitchen, than the one Sirius knew from his childhood and outside of work. No easy smiles or bad jokes or good-natured jabs to be found, here in the restaurant. While working, James was all determined glares and fast decisions and high standards. His steamed-up glasses slipped down his nose as he leaned over a counter to yell criticism at a salad boy. Lily, where she stood at one end plating a slice of strawberry angelfood cake, was doing the same to the few pastry and bread employees they had running around during dinner service. Together, they were formidable. But Sirius had to say that he’d rarely seen such a well-oiled machine as the kitchen at Godric’s.

It seemed like too soon that Lily came up and handed him the plate of fluffy pink cake dripping in chunks of sweet strawberry and simple syrup. Sirius turned back to the dining room, steeling himself for more terrible embarrassment at his own hands in the presence of dessert reviewer Remus Lupin.

He placed the plate without incident before Remus spoke to him.

“Can I ask a favor?”

Sirius looked at him, brow raised, and Remus smiled sheepishly.

“I refused the hostess’s offer to take my coat, but it is warmer in here than I first thought.” He shrugged out of one shoulder of his oversized coat. “Would you mind very much taking it for me?”

“Of course,” Sirius managed to get out. Remus shifted out of his coat and handed it to Sirius. Sirius couldn’t help looking him over quickly. He was surprised. It was very clear, through his light-blue sweater with a white collar poking out, that the man was skinny—very skinny. Not toned, like he worked out at all, just thin throughout. Sirius turned to take his coat up the coat check at the front, and wondered how a man who could eat ten desserts in a night managed to stay skinny like that without even participating in arm day.

“Here.” He handed the coat absently to Evangeline. She glared at him, but turned to put it in the coat check closet.

“So how’s it going? Spill anything yet?”

“Shut up,” Sirius hissed. “Don’t jinx me.”

She laughed, raising an eyebrow. “Boy, you look worked up. Good. At least you have the decency to care about Lily’s reputation.”

Sirius ignored her and walked back over to the kitchen window where Lily was waiting.

“Does it look like he’s finished with the first one?” she asked, leaning over the window to try and see Remus’s plate.

“I dunno.” He glanced over his shoulder, but couldn’t quite see. “Wait another minute.”

Lily made a stressed sound and went to get the other dessert anyway. As Sirius watched, Remus pulled his phone from his pocket. Sirius caught sight of the distinct cyan color of twitter. His breath caught.

“Lily,” he hissed when she came back. “I think he may be blogging from his table.”

“What?” Her face went pale. “Why do you say that?”

“I know for a fact I saw him open twitter.”

“That’s not blogging.” She rolled her eyes, but still looked stressed. “Take this to him and then come back and pull up his twitter for me.”

Sirius obliged. When he got to his table, he was surprised to see that Remus had, indeed, finished the other dessert. Was he intending to entirely finish every dessert?

“Thank you,” he said when Sirius set down the second plate. He picked up the empty to hand him, giving him that warm smile, and Sirius stumbled back towards the kitchen.

“I think I’m in love with him,” Sirius stressed when he had returned to Lily. She ignored him, taking the plate and setting it in the dish bin and gesturing that he should pull out his phone. Sirius pouted at being ignored, but did as she wanted. “What’s his handle?”

“Just search ‘Remus Lupin.’”

Sirius found him quickly, under @MoonyLupin. He found it hard to believe that @RemusLupin was taken, but he would search that later. He scrolled through the first few posts, Lily leaning over the window to look as well.

His first post of the evening just said “ _Made it! Remind me never to walk this far while it’s snowing EVER again lmao_.” It was followed by a picture of his hot chocolate with the caption “ _BITCH 😍😍_ ” and a picture of the strawberry angelfood cake captioned “ _Obvs the full review is coming later but um. I want to fuck this cake_.”

Lily put a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter. “Oh my god, I see why everyone likes him so much now.”

Sirius was smiling as well. This guy was so funny. So normal. He glanced over his shoulder at him before scrolling up to the next post, a picture of an empty pie plate that had been posted 12 seconds ago captioned “ _That apple pie never stood a fuckin chance 😔😔 F in the chat for our fallen hero_.”

“He’s ready for the next one!” Lily ran from the window to her station, quickly plating up a slice of blackberry chocolate cake. Sirius looked back at his phone, and saw that Remus’s twitter had refreshed. He was shocked to see a picture of himself leaning against the window, craning his head to follow Lily’s movements. The caption nearly made him black out.

“ _Also who the fuck hires this kind of waiter. I’m literally about to lose it. This mf could call me a pumpkin-spice bitch and I would still give customer service a 10/10 bc damn_ 😩👌🍑💦.”

Sirius blushed deep red and quickly put his phone back in his pocket as Lily returned. She said something to him that he couldn’t hear over the roaring in his ears and he turned to take the plate to Remus’s table.

“Thank you,” Remus said again, already holding his empty plate to hand to Sirius. Sirius was sure that no other patron of this restaurant had ever said “thank you” to him more than once in a service, and it really seemed to hammer home this guy’s personality to hear it every time he did a part of his job.

“How is everything so far?” Sirius asked, hoping he wasn’t still flushed from earlier.

“Everything is absolutely excellent.” Remus smiled down at the dessert in front of him, then at Sirius. “Looks delicious.”

“Which one?” Sirius muttered before he could stop himself. Remus didn’t appear to hear him, so Sirius made a hasty escape.

“He’s really going to eat every single one.” Lily shook her head as she took the second empty plate from Sirius’s hands. “Like, I know that’s what he does, but it’s different knowing my own portion sizes.”

“How often does he do this?” Sirius asked, casting another sneaky glance at the scrawny man.

“Once every week or two. It’s not his full-time job, I don’t think, just something he does because he likes desserts.”

“Is he pretty popular?”

“Oh, very. I’d only read a few of his reviews before asking him to come, but the hitcount on his little website is crazy.”

Lily went to get the next dessert ready, and Sirius was surprised to see James approach the window.

“How’s it going?” he asked breathlessly. He leaned out as if to look for the reviewer in the dim dining room, but didn’t try very hard. “Lily told me he was here.”

“He’s finishing up dessert number three,” Sirius told him.

“Does he like them so far?”

Sirius nodded. “Very much, from the looks of his twitter.”

“Good.” James smiled fondly at his wife where she was directing her staff on the creme brulee. “Well, I’ve got to get back to it. Don’t spill anything on him, yeah?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sirius grumbled, watching him go. Lily returned a minute later, and Sirius delivered the next dessert.

The night went on like that, Sirius taking Remus a new dessert every five or six minutes and Lily and Sirius watching his twitter closely in the time in between. He also brought him refills on water and hot chocolate, still amazed that this man was washing down easily 10 pounds of cake and pie and sugar with Lily’s rich hot chocolate. And he did finish every dessert to the last crumb.

“He didn’t like that one as much,” Lily stressed when Remus tweeted out his opinion on the triple chocolate cake.

“That’s not what it says,” Sirius insisted. “It says ‘ _While this chocolate cake fucks to hell and back, I do have to say it’s still not able to take my #1 spot_.’ That seems to be a compliment.”

“But I want to be number one,” Lily hissed. Sirius rolled his eyes.

“Get him his sundae, yeah? You want to close up soon, don’t you?”

She grumbled and returned to the dessert station, and Sirius looked over the emptying dining room. The reviewer was one of only three tables still occupied. Sirius could see from there that he was currently playing Candy Crush on his phone. He smiled to himself. What a cute guy.

“Okay, here you go.” Lily put the sundae on the window. “When he finishes up with this, James and I want to go out and talk to him a bit, so let me know when it looks like he’s about done, okay?”

Sirius nodded, and turned to take the dish, but Lily reached over and tapped his shoulder. He glanced at her, and she was giving him a wistful smile.

“You’ve been doing pretty good tonight,” she told him. “I’m surprised.”

Sirius rolled his eyes at her and continued on his way. Why was everyone so condescending? Why were they so convinced that he was going to fail? It was just carrying food back and forth.

He tripped over a table leg and ate ass right next to Remus’s table.

Dread, hubris, embarrassment. All emotions that warred for control of Sirius’s brain as he slowly pushed himself up and looked from the ruined wreck of the sundae on the floor to the man beside him. Dessert reviewer Remus Lupin was looking at him with eyes full of sympathy, but his mouth twitched as he attempted to resist an amused smile. He put a hand on Sirius’s shoulder.

“Are you alright, mate?”

Sirius knew his face was bright red. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” He wiped his face with his sleeve and it came back covered in ice cream. “My deepest apologies, I’ll bring another and get this cleaned up ASAP.”

Remus didn’t respond. He reached out and wiped a glob of ice cream away from Sirius’s mouth. Holding eye contact, he slowly licked it off his thumb.

“This isn’t a bad look on you,” he noted, amusement finally winning out on his face. Sirius felt like he was going to pass out due to the rush of blood to his head.

“Sirius, mate, you alright?”

Suddenly, mercifully, James was there, pulling Sirius to his feet and handing him a warm, wet towel. Sirius wiped his face shakily as James apologized to Remus and introduced himself. Sirius hurried away without another word, catching Lily as she was exiting the kitchen.

“W-W-We need another—“

“I know, Black, I saw.” Her voice was gentle, and she gave him a wry smile. “Alex is preparing it. I’m going to join my husband.”

Sirius nodded. “I’m sorry, Lily,” he blurted out, and she smiled wider.

“It’s okay, Sirius. I think I jinxed you.” She laughed a little and continued over to where James was speaking to Remus.

Sirius waited for the second sundae and approached the table slowly. He wanted to just put it down and then run away and hide in a shower for about six hours, but James was in the middle of arguing with the reviewer.

“I couldn’t possibly let you comp all of my food,” Remus was saying, his voice incredulous. “Not just because my waiter tripped. Where did you find him, anyway? I want one.”

“We never let reviewers we invite here pay,” Lily said gently. “We don’t expect it to change your opinion, of course, it’s just that we invited you to eat here and that makes it our responsibility.”

“Please accept,” James implored, and when he spotted Sirius trying to creep away, he added, “Along with my apologies, again, for our waiter.”

Sirius froze and turned to see all three staring at him. He resisted the urge to flip James the bird. “That’s what you get for hiring your best mate,” he said instead, raising his chin in defiance. “It’s your fault for your poor judgement.”

Remus laughed, shaking his head. “Really, it’s no trouble at all. If you won’t let me pay for what I’ve eaten, at least ring me up for some cherry cobbler to go.”

Lily agreed to that, and Sirius trailed behind her back to the kitchen as James took the opportunity to swoon over his wife to this complete stranger. Sirius was sure he heard the words “Goddess from Food Heaven” leave James’s mouth as they went out of earshot.

“Well I hope I didn’t royally fuck up your review,” Sirius grumbled miserably. Lily sighed, stopping at the kitchen door.

“Oh, come on, Black. You saw him, he seems totally unfazed. Besides...” Her expression grew reluctantly fond. “Even if you did, we’d still be alright.”

Sirius leaned against the kitchen window, smirking back at her. “Thanks, Evans.”

He waited while Lily boxed up some cherry cobbler, then took the box and the bill over to Remus’s table. He could barely look at him for his embarrassment.

“Thank you very much for the evening,” Remus said to him as he filled out his bill slip and signed it. “It was marvelous, really.”

Sirius made a noncommital sound and cringed at a painting of a field hung on one wall. He heard a sigh, but couldn’t look at the man.

“Have a pleasant night. I hope I’ll see you again when I come back.”

When Sirius glanced at Remus’s chair, he was gone. He caught sight of a light blue sweater near the hostess’s podium, and then a head of scruffy, tawny hair slipped out the door into the night.

Sirius picked up the slip and did a double-take at the amount of the tip. Chagrin filled him at having ignored the man as he left, but he noticed a note written at the bottom.

“ _You really did look good with cream on your face_.”

Sirius ripped off the bottom of the slip and stuck it in his pocket, taking the rest of it towards the kitchen to cash out for the night.


	2. Cupcakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this chapter is like lowkey a lil boring. I felt the first chapter could stand alone well enough, but if I want to write more to this story, I have to lay the stage. And I do want to write more! Hope y’all like it anyway ❤️
> 
> Also disclaimer: I don’t use twitter, idk anything about twitter, I looked up what the DM interface looks like and it didn’t look conducive to clear fanfic formatting as far as who’s speaking so I did whatever I wanted to make it clear what was going on.

“I wish you would come back, Sirius.”

“Andy,” he sighed heavily into his phone. How many times would he have to tell her this? “I am back. I just don’t want to burden you—you have kids.”

“I have _one_ kid,” Andromeda corrected him. “And don’t pretend like I don’t know that the Potters have a baby too, Sirius Black. I don’t see why you won’t let me take care of you.”

“I don’t need to be taken care of.” He tried to keep his temper from coming through in his voice. “I’m a perfectly capable twenty-seven-year-old man! And staying with James and Lily - _in the city_ \- is much more helpful for my job prospects than moving to fuck-ass Ireland to live with you—no offense.” He cringed at his own lack of tact.

His cousin sighed on the other line. “I understand.” Her voice was weary, quiet. “I just worry about you, Sirius. Don’t forget that I’ve been disowned as well. I know what you may be feeling and I just...I want you to know that...you’ve still got family.”

Sirius was touched by her words, but his mind also went to Lily and James, to James’s parents. He knew he had family. But he supposed it was good to know that some of it was still blood.

“Thank you, Andy,” he said. And he meant it. “And I promise you’ll see me. But you have to understand why I can’t accept your offer to stay with you.”

“I do. I’m sorry. Please at least say you’ll come for Christmas?”

Sirius hesitated, thinking about missing Harry’s first Christmas and not enjoying the idea at all. “I’ll see what I can do. New Year’s, if nothing else.”

“Fine.” He could almost hear her shaking her head, and he smiled.

There was a knock on his door, and James poked his head in, mouthing something that looked like “Parry if a keeper, fuck the fuck fuck.” Sirius nodded at him.

“Look, Andy, I’ve got to go. Sleeping baby in the house and all.”

“Yes, same here I suppose. Call soon, okay?”

“You got it. Bye.”

He hung up and threw his phone on his bed, shooting James a Look. James stepped fully into his room and closed the door behind him.

“She’s still on about you staying with them?” he asked. “It’s been weeks.”

“Yeah, well...” He shrugged. “Must be her motherly instincts or something.”

He watched James peer around the bedroom he was borrowing. Most of his stuff was still packed in boxes—the stuff he’d been able to salvage at all in his mad-dash escape from New York. He knew what James saw. Reluctance to settle in. Discomfort at the invasion he imposed. Hope for some kind of miracle. Sirius sighed and flopped onto his bed.

“I know I say this every day, but it’s because I want to make sure you know it,” James said, coming to sit beside him. “We’re glad you came to us. We’re happy to help you in any way, especially getting away from those fuckos you called family. You’re my brother, Sirius.”

James had given the same speech every day since Sirius got there. And actually, it was helping him feel less guilty about freeloading at their house. But only a little.

He knew that was why James had started him working in the restaurant. They didn’t really need the help, they had plenty of waitstaff. But he knew that James knew that he felt like a good-for-nothing, and having him stand around their restaurant like an ornament was supposed to make him feel better. He hadn’t yet thought up a polite way to tell them that it only made him more anxious.

Sirius flopped onto his back. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have me watch Harry?” he asked hopefully. “Come on, mate, after tonight you have to agree that I suck.”

“You were doing good, Sirius!” James shifted on the bed beside him, crossing his legs. “People trip, it happens.”

Sirius grimaced. It wasn’t just the tripping. He’d acted like an idiot all night.

“Besides,” James was continuing. “I don’t think you could pry Harry out of my mother’s hands with a crowbar. I think she’ll need at least another six months before she lets anyone else watch him.”

Sirius was quiet for a moment. “It’s not that I hate working there,” he lied, “I genuinely feel like I’m doing more harm than good. Evangeline accused me of _loitering_ , Prongs.”

“You stood her up on Valentine’s Day, mate, I think she may still be a little pissed off.”

“That was years ago,” Sirius grumbled, staring at the popcorn ceiling.

“Are the job prospects not so good, still?” James was trying to be sensitive about bringing it up, but it still made Sirius cringe.

“Not for the kind of work they’ll hire me for with a master’s degree. A _master’s degree_. Whose bright fucking idea was it for me to become so fatally over-qualified, again?”

They let his sarcasm hang in the air between them, neither daring to speak his name. The silence stretched on until Sirius heard the muffled sounds of baby wails coming through the walls.

“I’ll get him,” James mumbled, seemingly to himself. “I’m here for you, Sirius,” he said one final time before leaving the room and clicking the door shut behind him.

Sirius managed to lay still for all of ten seconds before grabbing his phone and checking for any new job postings. Whenever it was brought up, he became restless, dissatisfied with the amount of waiting and doing nothing that was involved in job hunting. He scrolled through his preferred job listing site, eyes glazing over as he noted the “applied” sticker pasted on every single one. He sighed and moved to switch off his light and get into bed.

Laying under warm blankets with his head on his pillow, he opened the twitter app and was surprised to see that he was still on that dessert reviewer’s profile. He scrolled slowly through all of his posts from the night. There had been no update since they’d closed. Eventually, he made it back far enough to see his other reviews; some just pictures of favorites from local places, and others that were ten-course tasting expeditions like he’d done earlier that night. Sirius found himself smiling as he read his commentary. He scrolled back up and went to hit the follow button, but his thumb hesitated. After a moment’s deliberation, he went to check his own profile.

He was greeted by a picture of himself beside his bike, Galaxy, at the top. He felt his heartstrings tug at the sight. A motorbike he’d spent the better part of undergrad building by hand, and he hadn’t been able to rescue her as he fled the country. He tried not to think of her impounded at the NYPD, waiting for him to return when there was absolutely no way he could get there in time. He quickly scrolled down to get the picture out of his mind.

Even Sirius had to admit, his twitter was sad this past month. He scrolled past lackluster jabs at his friends with the feeling of something heavy in his stomach. The cut between his days in New York and the days after was definitive. Before the falling-out with his family, his timeline was full of pictures of himself and his coworkers, even Regulus featured reluctantly in the background sometimes, and long threads between himself and James either arguing with each other or ganging up on their other friends. Looking at those made him sad too, so he went back to the search function, once again typing in “Remus Lupin” and tapping the follow button next to his account.

And then he rolled over to go to sleep.

~~~

Sirius was rudely awakened by the sound of his door banging open, and he jumped instictually, sitting straight up and pulling his blanket over his shoulders as he peered at the shape in the doorway.

“Good morning, Sirius,” Lily exclaimed brightly. “Do you have plans today?”

“Sleeping?” he asked, still not fully awake. She smirked at him.

“I had a baker call out this morning. So guess what? Instead of serving at dinner tonight, you’re going to help me in prep today.”

He blinked at her, his brow furrowing. “What? Are you sure you want that?” There was no way Evans had forgotten the last time he tried to bake something. It had gotten bloody.

“Don’t worry, sad little man.” She strode forward and patted his head. “You’ll just be frosting cupcakes.”

“Okay.” That didn’t sound so bad. And then he wouldn’t have to face the other waiters after last night.

“You have an hour. Chop chop!” She headed back out. “James is making breakfast!”

While the idea of leaving the house so soon was yucky, the prospect of breakfast by James was enough to bring Sirius to his feet. He often wished that James and Lily had just opened a Waffle House as opposed to a big fancy ordeal of a restaurant.

He checked his phone briefly before leaving his room, and noticed a DM on twitter. He opened up the app, sitting back down on the edge of his bed, and navigated to his DMs. He felt all his nerves go on end when he saw who it was from.

_@MoonyLupin  
08:15: Are y  
08:15: Are you the waiter from last night  
08:16: Oh my god tell me you didn’t scroll through my page_

Sirius grinned. He sent his reply almost without thinking.

_@SonnuvaBlack  
08:43: 😩👌🍑💦_

Sirius stood up and went out towards the sounds of voices and baby babbling. James was gliding back and forth in the kitchen, plating an omelette in front of Lily where she sat at the counter holding Harry against her chest.

Sirius went through breakfast on autopilot until his phone buzzed against the countertop. He snatched it up and opened his DMs again.

_@MoonyLupin  
09:02: Oh GOD  
09:02: I’m deleting it as we speak_

_@SonnuvaBlack  
09:02: No you dont have to!!  
09:03: We do want your honest opinion, after all_

“Sirius, will you pass me a napkin?” Lily asked absently, drawing Sirius back into the kitchen. He shoved some napkins into her hand right as Harry spit out a mouthful of his bottle.

They finished up breakfast and Lily handed Harry off to James as she and Sirius made their way out the door and down onto the street.

“You seem to think frosting cupcakes is easy,” Sirius said as they walked the few blocks to the restaurant. “But I want to warn you that I’m absolutely going to botch every cupcake you hand me.”

“Please, Sirius.” Lily rolled her eyes. “You’re not that bad. You built a motorbike, so don’t pretend like you have no skill for detail when it comes to working with your hands.”

“All I’m saying is please keep your expectations low.”

A few blocks later, they entered the restaurant. Before he knew it, Sirius was wearing an apron and disposable gloves with Lily’s assistant manager Alice at his side trying to teach him how to do swirls.

“You want to keep your dominant hand on top,” she said as she slowly piped a thick glob of icing onto a chocolate cupcake. “It’s better for controlling the pressure, and therefore the icing flow.”

Sirius attempted to copy her on a raspberry lemon cupcake. Despite her praise, he knew it looked wonky. She left him to it so she could attend to things in the kitchen, and Sirius was left alone in the dining room with three tables spread with naked cupcakes.

By about halfway through the first table, he was low on frosting and had terrible hand cramps. He sighed, sitting down and pulling off his sticky gloves. He took his phone from his pocket absently and looked at it. Another DM.

_@MoonyLupin  
10:21: Nice bike, by the way._

Sirius smiled wistfully at the mention of her. Also, Remus had looked over his twitter.

_@SonnuvaBlack  
10:47: Thanks, I built her myself_

_@MoonyLupin  
10:50: Mechanic by day, waiter by night? What a double life._

_@SonnuvaBlack  
10:51: More like disaster by night_

_@MoonyLupin  
10:53: Well, a charming disaster at the least._

Sirius smiled at his phone, then glanced at the slightly stained part of the carpet where the ice cream hadn’t entirely come out. His next message betrayed his curiosity from the night before.

_@SonnuvaBlack  
10:55: Dessert reviewer by day, shameless flirt by night?_

_@MoonyLupin  
10:56: Hah, other way around, more like._

Well, maybe that was too subtle. Sirius was dying to find out more about this whole food reviewing thing, but it seemed like he was going to have to be upfront about it. 

_@MoonyLupin  
10:57: I apologise if it makes you uncomfortable, I can stop._

_@SonnuvaBlack  
10:57: No no no, its fine  
10:58: Im used to the shameless flirt being me, honestly_

Someone kicked his leg, and he glanced up at Lily. She raised an eyebrow at him.

“Slipped into some poor sod’s DMs, have you?”

Sirius smirked at her, putting his phone in his pocket and leaning back in his chair. “Aren’t you interested to know who?”

“No.” She was almost convincing, but there was a kind of curiosity in her expression at the sound of Sirius’s tone. “What I want to know is why there are so many sad naked cupcakes out here.”

“I ran out of icing,” he complained, standing. “And my hands hurt.”

“Oh, come on, then, I’ll show you how to refill a bag.”

Sirius managed to finish the cupcakes shortly before 1 PM and Lily freed him so James could go in early. Out in the cold, wet London air, he walked slowly down the streets to James and Lily’s apartment, poking around on his phone.

The first thing he did was check his emails. He scrolled through a mountain of “Thank you for applying” emails, keeping his eyes peeled for anything that looked more like an interview invitation. When he found nothing, he closed the app and switched back over to twitter.

Right off the bat, the post at the top of his feed was a picture of Mary and Marlene together from last night.

_Marlene🖕🏾@McKickYourAss  
Finally home from Detroit 🛬 Missed you baby!😍 #NYC I guess I missed my girlfriend too lmao 🥰🥰 @MissMaryMac_

He hadn’t really gotten the chance to miss his grad school friends since meeting them. They all continued to live in New York post-graduation, and a lot of the companies they went to work for had close ties to his father’s companies so he would see them pretty frequently. But now, after a month in London, suddenly ripped away from his job and his apartment and his life...he quickly scrolled back up and tapped the icon for his DMs, feeling the relief of distraction wash over his brain as he went to his conversation with Remus Lupin.

_@MoonyLupin  
11:17: Are you really best friends with the pastry chef at Godric’s?_

_@SonnuvaBlack  
13:03: With her husband, more like. Lily tolerates me  
13:04: She did, however, allow me to frost cupcakes this morning, so she may be warming up to me_

Sirius climbed the steps to James and Lily’s apartment. James accosted him at the door.

“My mother will be here in half an hour, he’s sleeping please don’t wake him, enjoy your night off.”

“Bye,” Sirius said, watching James’s ruffled head duck out the door. The click of the latch hung in the air around him for a long moment.

He crept through the living room and down the hall to poke his head into Harry’s room. He was indeed sleeping. Good. Sirius didn’t know what to do with babies this small. He couldn’t wait for next summer, when Harry would actually be big enough to play with and shit. Though he hoped he wasn’t still living here at that time.

He returned to the living room and returned to the distraction of his phone. He ignored his twitter feed entirely this time, drawn immediately to the notification in his inbox.

_@MoonyLupin  
13:18: I’m so jealous of you rn.  
13:19: Please tell her I’m in love with her.  
13:19: I may be gay and she may be married, but the sentiment stands._

_@SonnuvaBlack  
13:23: Ill be sure to let her know, it will honestly probably make her very happy to hear  
13:24: Im also going to assume that this means her desserts were good?_

_@MoonyLupin  
13:25: Good? I though you saw my tweets about them?  
13:25: They were fucking phenomenal.  
13:26: Of course, I just love sugar, but still they were very good, wonderfully complex combinations of flavor.  
13:27: That blackberry chocolate cake? That’s what legends are made of._

_@SonnuvaBlack  
13:29: You really like dessert_

_@MoonyLupin  
13:30: Yes, though this hardly comes as a surprise to either of us, I should think, Mr. Waiter._

_@SonnuvaBlack  
13:31: Am I not distracting you from something? I dont want to be annoying you at work or anything_

_@MoonyLupin  
13:32: Says the mechanic by day._

_@SonnuvaBlack  
13:32: Hey I never actually said I was a mechanic_

_@MoonyLupin  
13:33: You’re right, I think a graduate degree from NYU should imply a much different job._

_@SonnuvaBlack  
13:34: Exactly how much did you stalk my twitter?_

_@MoonyLupin  
13:35: Enough._

_@SonnuvaBlack  
13:36: Im setting it to private as we speak_

_@MoonyLupin  
13:36: Tragic. Such a short, wistful love story we shall be._

Sirius smiled at his phone. His thumbs hovered over the keyboard on his screen, his breath quick and exhilerated in the midst of the still apartment.

_@SonnuvaBlack  
13:38: Oh, now thats not what I want_

_@MoonyLupin  
13:39: Oh, it’s not? Forgive me, I must have gotten confused._

_@SonnuvaBlack  
13:40: Right_

_@MoonyLupin  
13:42: Oh right, do you work tomorrow?_

Sirius smirked at his phone.

_@SonnuvaBlack  
13:43: Stalker_

_@MoonyLupin  
13:45: Oh, blah blah.  
13:47: Fine, don’t tell me._

_@SonnuvaBlack  
13:48: Youll just have to come and find out_

_@MoonyLupin  
13:49: Maybe I will._

Sirius shifted at the edge of his seat, a stupid grin plastered on his face. He felt something rising in his stomach—an emotion he hadn’t experienced in several years, current situation be damned. Something giddy and youthful.

He jumped at the knock at the front door and stumbled shakily over, trying to reenter the present. He opened the door for James’s mom.

“Sirius,” she cooed adoringly, keeping her voice down. She stepped inside and put her hands on his cheeks. “Not working tonight?”

“Lily made me help with cupcakes earlier,” Sirius got out through his squished lips and cheeks. “They gave me tonight off.”

“Well, good.” She smiled at him, the corners of her eyes crinkling. “Harry sleeping?”

Sirius nodded, and she finally released him. “Well, I’ll be here for the evening. Will you be staying in?”

“Most likely,” Sirius said, trying to cut off the train of thought that went to his finances and his lack of acquaintances in London. “I’ll probably keep at the job hunting.” Staring at the same websites and willing something to appear.

“Don’t wear yourself out on it,” she scolded him, going into the kitchen and plopping her purse on the counter. She opened the fridge and Sirius sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets. Why every Potter in the universe thought he was some fragile, breakable thing incapable of a little job hunting, he’d never understand.

“I’ll come out and help with dinner, so just give me a shout, yeah?” He started backing out of the kitchen, towards the relative solace of his borrowed bedroom. Mrs. Potter glanced over her shoulder doubtfully at him.

“Of course, dear.”

Sirius made his retreat and closed the door to his room behind him. He flopped into the desk chair and opened his laptop. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he stared at the last message from Remus.

_Maybe I will._

He watched himself type out the words. _Please do._ But then he stared at them. With a sigh, he backspaced and set his phone aside, refocusing on his computer. The man could do as he liked. And that was fine.

Everything was allllll fine.

**Author's Note:**

> Some points of interest:  
> -Evangeline Vane might be familiar to some of you—she’s a recurring side-character OC of mine in my Marauders fanfic, some relative of Romilda Vane (Golden Trio-era throwaway girl character, tried to give Harry some love potion, bezoar, etc etc). Sometimes I forget she’s not a real character lol.  
> -I thought long and hard about who should be the head chef and who should be the patissiere. I did not make Lily the pastry expert bc it’s a more womanly job!!!!! I swear!!!!! As a hobby baker myself, I know how much science is involved in baking. Lily is canonically a potions expert; she seemed to fit the role well.
> 
> I want to write more chapters of this, but we’ll see what I have time for. Y’all know me better than to expect any kind of consistent update, but I promise that if I abandon I’ll let you know.
> 
> Hope y’all liked it, hope you keep reading.


End file.
